Technological innovation is the key to a competitive and growing economy, unlocking major productivity gains and allowing companies to move towards higher value-added activities.

The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report evaluates 144 of the world’s economies on various measures of innovation – including the quality of scientific research institutions and spending on R&D – to produce an overall global ranking.

Finland emerges as the most innovative country in the world, with Switzerland coming a close second. Three other European nations are in the top 10 – Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Asian nations are also prominent, with Japan, Singapore and Taiwan all taking top spots. Israel and the United States complete the top 10.